Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Chappell's Test

Rohit Brijnath, in this Hindu interview with Chappell (yes, as I said earlier, if its a break, its *Chappell-interviews* season) has the usual servings of *processes* and *discipline* for us (hey, not saying they're wrong, as strategies...just that we've heard it before). But amidst that, and Brijnath is a tougher cookie than most other interviewers, he does hang on to the tough question of our dismal test match performance, and finally (and surprisingly) gets a tangible enough response out of Chappell

Yet I remind Chappell that, without suffocating him with an exact timeframe, eventually this team will be expected to win, that is its purpose. His answer is blunt. "If we're not winning Test matches and we're not a good Test match team by the end of 2006, we've got the wrong people.''

And, needless to say, I like that assertion, both from Chappell and Rohit. The timetable looks right for the 'processes' to yield results in the test arena as well. Ofcourse, the slight glitch is that by year end, we only play the away tours in WI and SA - both different in toughness scale, yet not ideal place to look for satisfying results from a struggling team. But hey, if the coach says so - and he has always stuck to 'I would finally be judged by results' line - I have no complains.

For me, personally, a series win in WI (with any scoreline) and a test match win in SA would be satisfying enough, for the moment. What say?